This week is dominated by our annual herd test. We set the date in consultation with our local veterinary office.

We have to have one every year and we try and strike a time between having most of the beef sold so that we have mostly light cattle to put through the two-day process of testing and reading and when the bulk of the really time and weather sensitive spring tillage work is done.

This year ground conditions were difficult for much longer than normal so slurry went out later than normal as did the fertiliser on the crops.

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All of which meant extra pressure to get protective sprays on the wheat, barley and oilseed rape.

At this stage we have pretty well caught up, helped by the long spell of dry weather and so we are tackling into our annual test.

We tested everything on Tuesday with results due on Friday.

We haven’t had a TB reactor for a while.

We have had a few notifications of lesions on a slaughtered animal being suspicious but so far, we have been notified after the lesion has been cultured that there hasn’t been a reactor.

The only real consequence of a reactor being discovered is the obligation to have repeat testing until we achieve two clear tests.

Given that everything is finished and goes directly for slaughter, we are allowed to continue to buy in while still restricted so at least the system keeps going.

The Department has had an ongoing level of monitoring badger activity on the place but I am more concerned with the unmistakable mark of deer tracks in the bank of a ditch.

I still have not succeeded this year in seeing a deer but if we do I will contact the special unit of the Farm Relief Sevices that have the culling contract to see how the arrangements actually work.

Out in the fields, a neighbour with a high clearance, self-propelled sprayer sprayed our oilseed rape for scleritinia. We have now closed the gate on that crop until harvest.

The beans have emerged and the field has a uniform green sheen.

This year we sowed the beans with a harrow going ahead of the one-pass.

A few years ago we tried both direct drilling into stubble and compared the result with the plough and one-pass.

There was no doubt that emergence was quicker with the one-pass but as far as I could judge, there was only a slight difference in yield terms but it was in favour of the one-pass.

I suspect that with an earlier year, the results between the two systems would be similar.

Meanwhile, the winter barley awns and odd heads are now appearing.